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Wednesday, November 06, 2013

Introduction To The Renaissance And Its Characteristic Features

Renaissance is a French Word and it means Re-Birth. The Renaissance was an immensely significant happening in European History that had set an ideal as well as has been an example of excellence in human creativity to the succeeding generations of intellectuals,writers and artists through out the World.

Main Characteristic Features of the Renaissance -

1. It was an intellectual and cultural movement not a religious or political movement. Specifically speaking, it was not a movement but a state of mind.

2. Renaissance was an URBAN ELITIST movement. It was confined mainly to some Italian cities like Florence, Venice, Rome, Padua, Milan and others. From Italy it moved up northward to Holland, France, Germany, England and other European Countries. This expansion of the Renaissance to the northern and western parts of Europe has been termed the Northern Renaissance.

3. It was Humanist in nature. Man was at the center of its scheme of study. It was mainly concerned with man's position in the society, the harsh as well as the subtle realities of his life.

Note - Men with multifarious genius and talents was universally acclaimed - being called "THE UNIVERSAL MAN" (l'uomo universale).

VIRTU - It was defined as the quality of achieving excellence in several fields and the person attaining VIRTU was not known to be a virtuous man but a versatile genius, one who has excelled in scholarship,art,music,statecraft and even war, having freed himself from the restraints of the Church. Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo were the two of these sort of persons i.e. VIRTU

4. The Renaissance was rationalist in nature. It put emphasis on reason. It believed that one of the ways to reach the truth is reasoning and argument.

5. The Renaissance was CLASSICAL or ancient oriented in nature. It regarded Philosophy,Literature,Science and Art of ancient Greece and Rome as the greatest legacies bequeathed to mankind and as the most reliable sources of truth and wisdom.

6. The Renaissance was Secular in character. It implied the separation of Church from the State and of Religion from Politics.

Other Salient Features of the Renaissance -

1. It began in mid 14th century in the Central and Northern Italian Cities and reached its peak in the early 16th century.

2. It was also known as New Awakening and New Learning which was inspired by the thought and the culture of ancient Greece and Rome.

3. We can state Renaissance as the revival of old learning, standards and ideals set up by the ancient Greek and Roman scholars, philosophers and artists.

4. The great Italian Humanist Philosopher Petrarch said that Renaissance came as the harbinger of the Modern Age and it revitalized the European Civilization by bringing back the glorious contributions of ancient Greece and Rome.

5. The period from 1500-1540 was termed as the period of HIGH RENAISSANCE because highest excellence was reached in the field of Literature,Art and Architecture in this period.